Young Bruins face first major road test

LOS ANGELES All season long, UCLA coach Ben Howland has answered question after question about the development of his all-important freshman class — the group that was and still is supposed to turn the UCLA (12-3, 2-0) back in the right direction.

So far, the Bruins' young, inexperienced roster has replied with 12 victories, including seven in a row — UCLA's longest winning streak since the 2008-09 season.

But one question still remains unanswered, even in light of a successful early season turnaround: Can these baby Bruins succeed on the road in the Pac-12?

“They're gonna yell nasty things at you and you have to get used to that,” Howland said when asked about what he told his players to prepare them. “It's different. It's us against the world. They've all played road games, but not a road game like you do in college because there's bigger crowds.”

Freshman phenom Shabazz Muhammad has a pretty good idea of what awaits him in the conference's upcoming hostile environments, the first of which comes Thursday against Utah (8-6, 0-2) in Salt Lake City. He fully expects to hear plenty of taunting chants about his “NCAA incident” earlier this season and claims he's completely ready for that type of challenge.

Team energy, as a whole, could be an interesting storyline during the upcoming trip to Utah and Colorado, as many of UCLA's less-experienced players, including Muhammad, haven't played at the altitude of Salt Lake City (4,226 feet above sea level) or Boulder (5,430 feet) before.

Plus, many of UCLA's young players began the season drastically out of shape.

“We're really in shape now,” fellow freshman Kyle Anderson said, “especially with how well we've been playing with the transition offense. … I think we're in a lot better shape.”

Parker looses up

He has seen it work wonders for former Bruins such as Kevin Love, Jordan Farmar and Josh Shipp, and after noticing a distinct difference in Tony Parker after the 275-pound freshman started using yoga to get healthy and help his development on the court, UCLA coach Ben Howland announced Tuesday that he's officially a believer in the power of yoga.

“You can see Tony moving so much better today,” Howland said. “He was so much looser. … I think this yoga thing is really going to help him. I really believe in it.”

Yoga certainly isn't a newfangled workout technique in Southern California or even with UCLA players, but even Parker's teammates have noticed a profound difference in him during the team's last few practices, since he started workouts with Clippers yoga coach Kent Katich.

It was enough of a change, at least, to convince fellow freshman Jordan Adams to contemplate doing yoga in the morning before class. Muhammad and Anderson might be next before too long.

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